Europe

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 18,359 new coronavirus cases in the past day and the overall caseload in the country reached 3,850,439, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday.

The average coronavirus growth rate reached 0.48%. The lowest growth rates in the past day were registered in the Tuva Republic (0.09%), the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Altai Republic (0.2%).

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/: Nearly 2,000 people, including journalists, took part in an unauthorized rally in downtown Moscow on January 31, the Main Department of the Russian Interior Ministry told reporters on Sunday.

"In Moscow, there was an unauthorized public event, in which nearly 2,000 people took part as of 14:30 Moscow Time, including media representatives," the press service said.

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/: The new US administration showed political will thanks to which Moscow and Washington managed to agree on extending New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"We see that the new administration of President [Joe] Biden showed this political will. Moreover, they even outlined a proposal for five years," Peskov stressed.

According to him, "this is a very good proposal that certainly received Russia’s support immediately".

LONDON, Jan 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – British police launched an investigation into a fire, which broke out on Friday afternoon, at a barracks in Kent in south-eastern England, where the British government is holding hundreds of asylum seekers, local media reported yesterday.

Asylum seekers have been temporarily moved from the barracks, which was also recently the site of a major outbreak of coronavirus, the London-based Evening Standard newspaper reported.

British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, issued a statement to slam the “appalling” damage.

ROME, Jan 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy revoked approval for arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the conflict in Yemen, making permanent an 18-month temporary suspension.

“Today I am announcing that the government has revoked the authorisations underway for the export of missiles and aircraft bombs to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - EU officials confessed on Saturday to a “blunder” in invoking Northern Ireland Brexit emergency powers during a showdown with Britain over vaccines, and London said it expected its supply of COVID-19 shots would not be interrupted.

The European Union has fallen far behind Britain and the United States in the race to vaccinate its public. It announced on Friday it would impose export controls on vaccines, widely seen as a threat to prevent doses from being sent to Britain.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will next week formally apply to join a trans-Pacific trading bloc of 11 countries, with negotiations set to start later this year, the government said on Saturday.

Since leaving the European Union, Britain has made clear its desire to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which removes most tariffs between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

OSLO (Reuters) - Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organization and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg are among those nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, all backed by Norwegian lawmakers who have a track record of picking the winner.

Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates. Nominations, which close on Sunday, do not imply an endorsement from the Nobel committee.

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Saturday discussed over phone the ongoing efforts to secure the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire, the Kremlin said.

The two sides welcomed the launch of the joint Russian-Turkish center "for monitoring the ceasefire and any military activities in the conflict zone," it said in a statement.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police have issued a strong warning against participating in protests planned for Sunday to call for the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent foe.

The warning comes amid detentions of Navalny associates and opposition journalists and a police plan to restrict movement in the center of Moscow on Sunday.